Alas! But true. There is only one team, BCCI ki team, and not India ki team. BCCI has time and again proved that the only thing that matters to them is money, and not the national pride, or India, for that matter. You may have also noticed several times when their members have given preference to monetary contracts instead of options which may have been a pride for India.
First, there was the IPL. One may argue that it was the best option at that time but simply postponing the IPL after the Indian democratic elections could have been an option also. It would have been a nice thing to do, giving the largest democracy in the world respect for the democratic functions it performs, instead it became a matter of one person's ego and he was even praised for that. But that is understandable. Millions were at stake due to contractual obligations, and why does it matter to BCCI if the INDIAN Premier League actually happens in India or not, when the democracy of India was given second preference after the "billion dollar baby".
Second, India is not playing in the Asian Games. IOA president, Mr Suresh Kalmadi, has openly said that BCCI is not participating in the Asian games because there is no money in that. "It has become commercial...cricket has become very commercial. (In Olympic and Asian Games) There are only medals, no money. So, I don't think anybody from cricket world will be interested in taking part," he said. BCCI cited international commitments for not taking part in Asian games, where cricket is debuting in T20 format. "They (BCCI) had done it in Malaysia Commonwealth Games also. They sent a second string team there. So I was never keen and I did not put cricket into Commonwealth Games. I knew they won't make it, they will back out at the last minute. They said they would come to Asian Games, but they backed out. I knew this," he said.
Kalmadi was referring to the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur where India sent a second-string squad, while most of the frontline cricketers played against Pakistan in Canada. I need not add further.
Third, BCCI not agreeing to pre/postpone the India-Australia 2 tests to be played between Oct 2-14 in India, clearly clashing with CWG. Three ODIs are also to be played after the tests. CWG schedule was decided four years ago and BCCI was clearly informed about the time table of the event. But, hey, BCCI has control over 75% of the money in the world cricket. How can anybody tell them to adjust to the CWG, even when it is a matter of national pride for Indian citizens. Instead, we should thank them for giving us the option of either watching the world athletes fighting to get a medal for their country or the BCCI squad fighting it out on a cricket pitch, winning thousands as prize money, lakhs as salaries but zero medals. Mr. Kalmadi has clarified that a year ago, he had requested the then BCCI president Sharad Pawar not to schedule any cricket series on Indian soil during the Games. But, its highly unlikely that without any serious order or threat of disbanding them, BCCI will change their schedule to adjust India in it.
So, we were mistaken for a long time that the team for which we were cheering was an Indian team. But it was a team of a billion dollar enterprise called BCCI(Billionaires Control Cricket in India), run by billionaires to make more money. So never again say its India ki team, its BCCI ki team. R.I.P. Indian Cricket Team.
By- Rahul Bansal
